Winter peonies.  As unexpected a treat as oranges in December – remember?  Stand close and you will catch the clove-spice carnation mixed with the medicine of pine and eucalyptus.  Press your nose closer still to find a hint of sweet hay and honey from the peonies, their muted scent hidden amidst glorious petals.

Lately, the flowers have begun to tell what they want without much agony from me.  This, too, is an unexpected treat.  I understand how rare and precious it is to feel things make themselves, and mostly need only to listen well, and do what is asked.

And yet – I think I might need to take a break and let some new things happen.  Or just let some nothing happen.  It’s probably the internet I need a break from – not the flowers, or the camera or the words.  Everything has changed so much, me included.  Maybe I want some time to get acquainted.

And maybe it is the darkening world, asking for time alone together – to see what isn’t readily shown, and feel the expanded outlines of what became from summer’s growth.